Prior samplers have been designed with a capping and entrance system that melted along with and into the molten material being sampled. This caused a source of undesirable contaminants to flow into the actual sample chamber. The prior method also allowed elements contained in the capping system to cause a diluting effect on similar elements contained in the molten batch material.
The location being sampled may contain extremely low (typically, 10 to 50 ppm) values of certain elements, for example, C, S, Mn, 0.sub.2, H and N, that must be accurately analyzed in order to produce a high quality product. At these minute ranges, any outside contamination or dilution can cause a significant error in accurate analysis.
Patents representative of the prior art in this area are as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,245, issued Jan. 31, 1984 to Nakamura et al;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,007,641, issued Feb. 15, 1977 to Kelsey;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,152, issued Dec. 10, 1985 to Plessers et al:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,578, issued Mar. 3, 1987 to Lawrenz et al;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,139, issued Oct. 9, 1979 to Narita et al;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,250,753, issued Feb. 17, 1981 to Collins;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,140,019, issued Feb. 20, 1979 to Falk;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,112,772, issued Sept. 12, 1978 to McDevitt;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,478, issued Jul. 26, 1977 to Cure;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,002,073, issued Jan. 11, 1977 to Collins;
U.S. Pat. No. 3,332,288, issued Jul. 24, 1967 to Mladenovich;
U.S. Pat. No. 3,693,449, issued Sept. 26, 1972 to Collins;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,051,732, issued Oct. 5, 1979 to Falk;
U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,857, issued Jan. 14, 1975 to Falk;